The Attacks Against Women in Turkey Target The Organization of Women

The centre of Free Women’s Congress (KJA) Association was raided anomalously by police on April 10, 2016, around 05:00 am. The Association was raided without any prior notification and in an unusual hour that none of the administrators were there. 16 politicians, including 6 women who are members, administrators and activists of KJA, were detained in the same time with similar illegal methods. Our 4 women members, Çimen Işık, Pero Dündar, Olcay Kanlıbaş and Zozan Toprak are imprisoned after they were judged in the court on April, 11.

The police raid is totally anomalous and targets to destroy generally the democratic organization as an essential element of democracy, and specifically the organization of women. While all of our computers were expropriated in the raid, our archive was also taken by the police. This crime is tried to be covered up with “confidentiality order”. Expropriation of all the computers means the cessation of the Association’s actions even it is possible to backup of all the documents and keep on investigation.

Women politicians, activists, journalists, academicians keep their struggle for peace and freedom despite the killings, detentions, arrests and pressures in prisons. We, as women in KJA, refuse the subjection of the Kurdish question to a deadlock; the dirty war methods specifically executed on women gender; the destruction of cities and expropriation on the Kurdish people’s properties.

Turkey has become to act as a police state anymore. It criminalizes all the democratic reactions, notably the women’s, with “terrorism” claim without discussing what is legal, what is right or what is justice.

Turkish government targets the women politicians and women organization instead of give account of its responsibility while all forms of violence against women has increased in a way we never witnessed before. All kinds of oppression and violence against women will again be stopped by the solidarity of women. Women’s freedom is too important to be left to the mercy of any political power. Let’s stop the political crackdown against women with our organization and solidarity.